So we got home and tried to think of what to do. The first idea was to try and spend a week being veggie. All was pretty good there. Sarah barely noticed, I started looking at dogs a bit oddly but made it through.
Next up was plastic bags, a whole week without using any! I was superb, Sarah failed on day one and pretty much every day after. Then again I don't do much shopping and my local chinese takeaway does paper bags.
The next week we decided to try and look at electricity. This is quite an weird one as the facts out there are pretty scary. Did you know that:
1. Your phone charger still uses as much electricity whether your phone is plugged in or not?
2. The digital clock on your microwave uses as much power as using the microwave on full power all day every day?
3. Your TV, stereo, dvd, laptop etc, use as much as 80% of their total power while on stand by?
This is just the tip of the iceberg. There is so much electricity being used when it isn't needed it is shameful!
I'm still learning about all this, but hope to be able to back this up with more facts and stats soon. (Did you know that you can prove 83% of things with statistics?)
We'll be rolling out some of these challenges in the coming months...
This weeks challenge is a beginners level one, but important nonetheless, RECYCLING!
Recycling is fairly easy, but is so easy to forget. Plus there is so little information on exactly what to recycle. What do you do with lightbulbs for example?
So, this week, try to recycle as much as possible!
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9 comments:
Awesome! Toby, you write exactly like you speak, makes me laugh!
The recycling thing is def harder than it looks - I was diligently cleaning out my yoghurt pots for about 10 months until I read somewhere that you can't recycle them. Huh? But they're plastic, and I put them in the blue plastics bag? Oh well... Still, better to recycle too much than too little I suppose. :)
Well this is your challenge so you had better be super aces...
Yoghurt pots... Really? Can you not recycle them? hmmmm, well I suppose the easiest answer would be, and I am a big fan of easy answers, buy the stuff in glass pots. Then again, that is still a bit rubbish. Er, BOYCOTT YOGHURT!!! To be honest, it is just mouldy milk.. How about a nice bowl of porridge or some fruit until they mae bio-dredable yoghurt pot...
Curses, I hate porridge!
oops, that was me...
Hmmm... I believe we told you about leaving the TV's and all the lights on when you were still at home. Still better late than never! We recycle evrything we can including yoghurt pots and other non reclyclable plastics 'cos they use that in the incinerators for public heating and other projects. We usually try to recycle green waste too in the composters. Good for the garden.
ummm, I'm sure we can recycle yoghurt pots - I think this may be post code dependent - suggest you check with your local waste disposal experts!
If the Godman household has expanded its rubbish area into recycling also, does it mean this now takes up over half the kitchen? In which case - are rats enviromentally friendly?
Snce the arrival of Hector and Henrietta, rats are now considered lunch. Though the rats would currently be bigger than our kittens!
I would assure you that the Godman kitchen has long maintained recycling bins and Sarah even uses them! It is also a very clean kitchen... unless I have been cooking...
Seriously though, does anyone have solid info on what can and can't be recycled here in Belgium (and the UK for those of you there)?
http://www.bruxelles-proprete.be/Content/html/dechets/plastiquemetal.asp
is the link to the Brussels Binmen website (this page in French, but it does have pictures - JUST LIKE THE BLUE BAGS). It does say that yoghurt pots should go in the white bag.... but what always has, and always will, amaze me is that they accept tetra paks for recyling!
ps I've seen people putting plastic bags, ie the ones you're encouraging not to use, in the blue bin bags (Brussels-speak) - they can't be recycled.
pps They no longer accept glass in those bags either, they have to go to the bottle bank..
On the electricity thing... a HUGE waste of electricity is screens.. so when you leave the office, even if you don't turn the PC off (which you should, to save electricity), at least turn the screen off. It saves loads..
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